1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network facsimile apparatus capable of performing transmission and reception of facsimile data and e-mail data connecting to a PSTN and a network such as the internet or LAN.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a method of reusing facsimile received data by combining an internet FAX and a WWW server has been proposed. The method utilizes the function of the internet FAX which converts data received from the PSTN into an e-mail.
FIG. 1 illustrates a system structure of the case of performing facsimile transmission and reception using an internet FAX and a WWW server.
Image data received at internet FAX 1101 via the PSTN is converted into an attached file format to an e-mail at internet FAX 1101 and is transmitted to WWW server 1103 as an attached file of e-mail.
The e-mail with the attached file transferred from internet FAX 1101 is received at e-mail server 1102 via a network. The e-mail with the attached file received at e-mail server 1102 is transferred to WWW server 1103 that is a destination again via the network.
WWW server 1103 stores the attached file of e-mail as image data to link to a homepage for facsimile reception. The storage of facsimile received data is finished at this point.
In order to fetch received data into client machine 1104, a user starts a WWW browser at client machine 1104 and accesses to the homepage for facsimile reception at WWW server 1103. The user reads out an image data file at client machine 1104 via the network from WWW server 1103.
As described above, internet FAX 1101 has a facsimile communication function, an e-mail communication function, a format converting function for converting a format mutually between facsimile and e-mail. Internet FAX 1101 also has a scanning function and a printing function to function alone as a facsimile apparatus. Accordingly, client machine 1104 is able to use internet FAX 1101 as a relay apparatus when transmits an e-mail to internet FAX 1101, and also use internet FAX 1101 as a network printer.
However, there is a problem on the workability in the above system because a user has to start up e-mail software at a client machine to attach a word-processor-document to an e-mail when transmits the word-processor-document generated at the client machine to another terminal through the internet FAX or prints the word-processor-document at the internet FAX.
An object of the present invention is to provide a communication system for enabling a user to directly transmit or print a word-processor-document generated at a client machine only by providing an instruction of printing or transmission to a printer driver at the client machine without converting the word-processor-document opened at the client machine into an e-mail.
The present invention provides a network facsimile apparatus and a computer system in which a terminal is via a network connected to a network facsimile apparatus which is a network connection type and has communication and printing functions, a printer driver for the network facsimile apparatus directly receives a transmission instruction of a document opened at the terminal in order to transfer the transmission instruction and the document to the network facsimile apparatus, and the network facsimile apparatus transmits the document which is instructed to transmit using the communication function.
According to the aforementioned processing, a transmission instruction of a document opened at the client is directly provided to a printer driver for the network facsimile apparatus and transferred to the network facsimile apparatus, thereby a user is able to transmit the document at the terminal to a desired destination by transferring the document to the network facsimile apparatus in the similar procedure as printing.
In addition, when a printer driver for the network facsimile apparatus receives a printing instruction of a document opened at a terminal, the printer driver transfers the printing instruction and the document to the network facsimile apparatus and prints the document which is instructed to print using the printing function. According to the aforementioned processing, it is possible to transmit document opened at the terminal to the network facsimile apparatus to print, thus enabling the network facsimile apparatus to be used as a network printer.
In addition, the network facsimile apparatus has a storage for storing a document, another storage in which a bulletin board including a document list of stored documents is stored in structured document format, and a web server for enabling the bulletin board to be browsed. When the printer driver for the network facsimile apparatus receives a registration instruction of a document opened at the terminal, the printer driver transfers the registration instruction and the document to the network facsimile apparatus. The network facsimile stores the document which is instructed to register in the storage, while registers the document name to the document list of the bulletin board. A user is thereby able to directly transmit the document at the terminal to the network facsimile apparatus only by operating the almost same procedure as printing. Since the bulletin board is constructed in structured document, it is possible to browse the bulletin board at the user terminal where the document is generated by accessing to the network facsimile with URL and providing a file request to a web server.
In addition, the printer driver for the network facsimile apparatus displays a selection page including at least printing and transmission as instruction items at the terminal, and receives an enter of the instruction item on the selection page, thereby enabling various instructions including printing or transmission to be easily entered.
In addition, the selection page has a box adapted to enter a facsimile number and e-mail address corresponding to a transmission instruction. According to the aforementioned feature, it is possible to enter destination information in the same page as selecting the instruction item, improving the workability.